From Cradle to Grave
by ProgenitorVirus
Summary: A brief mini chapter of Jill Valentine's experiences in the Spencer Estate Resident Evil 1/Resident Evil Remake Hybrid . This is just a segment, and more are later to come, and be put in order
1. Chapter 1

"From Cradle to Grave" was the name of the first portrait Jill saw in the U-shaped art gallery. After seeing three more of those things since entering the mansion, Jill was starting to get edgy. She started to examine the portraits, noticing buttons under them. It seemed that they were all of the same man, only at different ages of his life.

Jill paced down the hall just taking in the quality of the portraits; it was a nice and peaceful break from the rest of the rooms she'd seen in the mansion. The foyer and eastern rooms were dark, with some melancholic art, and the blood spattered on the walls was far from relaxing. But it couldn't last forever. She knew she had to find a way out, and since having discovered that the door to the only exit outside was sealed shut, with four hexagonal indents and a riddle seeming to be the key, she had to find an alternate route.

She left the room, and went back to the hall, noticing a door she hadn't tried. Opening it, she found herself in a small corridor, with finely finished marble walls. In front of her was a single door which led into an extravagant living room furnished with only the best furniture and delicate wallpaper which was starting to gently peel from the wall. It would've been peaceful, had it not been for the emptiness and solitude of the room. It had no doors except the entrance, and inside was as silent as the grave. Even with the furniture, the room seemed empty and secluded from the rest of the house, and world for that matter.

Jill sat for a moment, and examined the walls, noticing that there was a gun rack over the fireplace, and on it, a shotgun. She was ecstatic over the find; her pistol didn't pack much of a kick and she was almost out of ammunition. Gently lifting, she heard a loud sharp click as she lifted, breaking the dead silence of the room. It was either the noise or the rush of power Jill felt when she held the vintage shotgun that startled her. Either way, she didn't pay much mind to it, and headed back out into the corridor with marble walls feeling like she actually had a chance at surviving.

She felt a small click when she closed the door to the room she was in. Curios, she turned the knob again. But the door had been locked. She was feeling anxious now, and walked to the other side of the small room she was in. Locked as well. Jill was trapped in the small square corridor with marble walls. Panicking, she pounded at the door, crying for help. She tried to shoot the lock of the door with her 9mm pistol, but the bullet ricocheted off and grazed her leg. Screaming for help, she felt a rumble getting bigger and bigger. She looked up and squinted, dust had gotten in her eye. She looked again for a second take and saw something unbelievable. The ceiling was slowly meeting the ground. Frantically, she pounded at the door screaming, and tried the door knob.

"Jill, is that you?" said a voice from outside.

Barry's voice seemed like a godsend. All Jill could remember were a shout, a gun shot, and Barry pulling her out from the room. When she came to, and realized what had happened, Barry remarked,

"Huh… Few more seconds and you would've been a Jill sandwich."

Not realizing what a terrible joke that was, she unwittingly laughed.

"Barry, why are you here? I thought you were going to explore the other side of the house." She said as she got up.

"Well… You seem a bit ungrateful for somebody who just saved you from a death trap but you're right. There was just… Something I needed to check on. Listen let's meet up at the main hall if we find anything interesting, okay?" He said nervously, avoiding eye contact all the while.

There was no doubt that Barry had something on his mind. He was acting strange. He wouldn't even look at Jill directly. He also seemed to be sweating more than he should've been. But as odd as he was acting, Jill didn't want to try and analyze his behavior; he was probably as shaken up as she was, and she had just had a near death experience.

Jill was too exhausted and on edge to have to deal with any more of the walking dead, she needed to go somewhere peaceful. She made her way back to the art gallery, and slumped down, looking at the pictures.

She must have dozed off some point, because she awoke with a terrible headache. She mustn't have slept long her watch was only showing a half hour difference from when she last checked, before the death trap.

Groggily, she got up, and again started looking at the portraits. _From Cradle to Grave… _

Just then, an idea popped into her head. She paced around the room, looking at all of the portraits. None of them were in order. The last one was of a man's funeral, but before it, was a young boy. Piecing this together, she walked slowly around, touching the buttons on the portraits in order. From Newborn Baby to Old Man she pressed the buttons under each portrait. Then, she came to the final one, of a man's funeral. Sighing gently, she went to touch the button, not realizing it was a switch. She fumbled for a moment, and flipped it. She heard a slight grinding movement. Frozen with fear, she stood perfectly still with a single warm tear rolling down her cheek. Jill closed her eyes tight, expecting the worst.

Then, suddenly the grinding noise stopped. After a moment Jill willed herself to open her eyes. The first thing she saw in front of her was a shining hexagonal emblem, about six inches wide and high, sitting in a new opening in the wall. She examined the wall before touching anything. The portrait of the funeral had fallen, and a panel on the wall had receded in, and up. Carefully, Jill reached for the emblem, swiftly removing her hand from the nook in the wall.

Jill examined the emblem closely. It was painted gold, though the paint was chipping away exposing the dull brass underneath. On its front side was an engraving of stars. The emblem wasn't very ornate, surprisingly plain, but oddly the engraving was finely detailed. She put the emblem into her side pack, and paced back to the door to get back to the hallway. Just as she reached for the door, she remembered. _When the Sun sets in the West and the Moon rises in the East, Stars will begin to appear in the Sky and Wind will blow towards the Ground. Then the gate of new life will open._

The riddle was written under the four indents next to the sealed exit. Jill scrambled outside, and back to the door that was sealed.

She took the crest of the star and placed it in the upper-most indent. Jill then heard a click from the door next to her. She tried to open the door, but it was still locked. Peering through the crack, Jill could see three solid, thick metal pins holding the door shut. Curios, she removed the emblem, heard a clunk, and looked back in the crack. She saw four pins this time. Jill put the emblem back, realizing she had found a piece to her freedom, and sanity. She only had to find three more.

Jill exited the hall, and calmly made her way back to the foyer, where she intended to inform Barry of her discovery.


	2. Chapter 2

Walking back into the mansion's foyer, she was immediately engaged by Barry from the upper floor.

"Jill! Have you found anything yet?" he said as he was just getting out of a quick jog towards her.

Again, she noticed something odd in his voice. Though slightly exhausted, it was shaky; had something that piqued her curiosity.

"Oh, umm," she felt around her pocket for emblem, realizing she had left it in the relief . Something told her not to tell Barry about what she found in whole, "I think I found a way to get out of here. I looked outside, and saw a riddle. I think we need to find some kind of emblems?"

"Seems a lot to take in from just a riddle... Anyways, I found these, I don't know if they'll be helpful or not. I'm fine with the buddy system we have going here," he muttered as he eyed the barrel of his impressive Colt Python, then handing Jill three grenade rounds.

"We'll meet up in this hall if anything comes up," Jill said as she reached for the door, "and Barry, is everything--" but she was cut short. Barry had already vanished.

Jill decided to put Barry's behavior at the back of her head. There were much more pressing matters at hand, like to find those emblems.

She backed up to the room she had checked with stairway, in the wing she had just emerged from. The door she had opened had a broken handle, so finding an alternate route back so it wouldn't break was necessary. She crept slowly, behind the stairway and saw a door. It must have been an old storage closet, because inside was nothing but chemicals.

Every room got a thorough check, but there really wasn't anything big. On her way back out of the small room though, she noticed a green chemical out in the open, with a note by it. Most of it was ripped off and bloodstained , but she read what was left.

"_... the only thing to take down that damn ... in ..."_

Without even second guessing anything, she put it in her side pack. She decided to hold onto anything that can "take down". Out of the small room, she slid along the wall up the stairs. To her immediate left was a long hallway with a bend at the end. To her right was a bend, and a door with no handle. But more important was what was in the long hallway to her left.

Two of those shambling monsters were trying their best to get her. One had started a pathetic jog, hit the other, falling to the ground with a slimy, wet thud, while the other voluntarily fell to its knees. What Jill saw next was sickening.

The wretch on its knees put its skeletal hand down, ripping up a putrid gray, dripping and bleeding wad of matter from the other, revealing the internals of it. It had then brought the hand to its mouth, and started engulfing the mess with a power and eagerness Jill didn't think they still possessed. This had happened as she could hear the actual bones of the fallen creature cracking inside it, as it struggled not to get away, but to get closer, and writhe in the seemingly sexual glory it got from reaching and sinking its crooked jaw into its assailant's severed, decaying thigh.

She tried to take a pot-shot, but staring at the seen was too much. She shot three more times, eyes closed. In the time it took to recover, one of the monsters was now crawling toward her. With a heavy stomp, she crushed the head of the moving sludge. A rule of thumb she had learned thus far, is that anything with a head can and will die.

Jill geared towards the left hall. She thought that if the worst was yet to come, take it now, so the later path will be easier. She knew this wasn't true, but went for it anyway.

There were two doors, one on the side, and one and one past the bend. Without any real direction, she took the latter path, and found herself in a room with an unlit fireplace. Upon closer inspection she had found a whole clip, with a note attached to it.

_"In case you get in a jam Rebbecca. - Richard"_

_Richard... Rebbecca..._ It then came to her; Bravo Team! There could be survivors in this place after all! Maybe they'd meet up, just as Jill went to step out of the room. Hell, maybe Rebbecca was using this room as a safe house, and Richard and her went looking for supplies! But just then something struck Jill. As large as the mansion was, this was the only evidence she had found of Bravo's survival. She had seen Kenneth, being devoured by one of them.

Jill sat down on the dusty elegant sofa in the room, opposite the fireplace. She needed to think.

There were no other survivors. Bravo team was killed, Wesker was missing, and Barry was unstable. She had herself to rely on, and she was the last person she'd want to be with right now.

She got up, and checked the door in the room. Locked, of course. It was like every other door in this house; it was locked with an emblem of some piece of armor on it.

She left the room, and tried the other door in that hallway. Glancing under the knob, she almost didn't try the door. But to her surprise, the door was unlocked already. She went into the room and inside was a small hall with an animal's head mounted upon the wall. She walked into one of the rooms, and was held up by Barry, pointing a gun to her head.

"Cool down Barry, it's only me!" She screamed.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," he lowered his gun. "but I think you should take a look at this. There wasn't anything in the other room. Check if you like later, but here." Barry handed Jill a torn piece of paper.

She believed him when he said there was nothing in the other room, but she didn't know why. Something in his voice? Maybe how he didn't care if Jill looked in there. Regardless, she read the paper;

_"...Even as I write these words, I can hear them, pressing against my door like_

_mindless, hungry animals._ _Alma, I have tried to survive only to see you again. But my efforts only_ _delayed the inevitable; I am infected, and there is no cure for what will_ _follow -- except to end my life before I lose the only thing that separates me_ _from them._ _My love for you._ _In an hour I'll have entered my eternal sleep where there is peace. Please_ _understand. Please know that I'm sorry._ _Martin Crackhorn"_

Jill couldn't get the tears to flow, even if she tried. She couldn't get herself to feel much worse than she already did. Her thoughts were interrupted by Barry.

"Jill, I'll look around here some more. I've unlocked most of the doors here, but take these if you need to." He handed her two keys and left the room without saying another word.

Was it just her imagination, or had she seen the top half of the note crumpled and poking out of Barry's pocket? No, she could trust him now, he had just given her two keys. But she could've sworn she saw the paper... 


End file.
